The Two Sisters- H. M. R. (Maine) pre-1905 ; BBM version A
[My title, replacing the generic "Twa Sisters." From Traditional Ballads in New England I by Phillips Barry; The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 18, No. 69 (Apr. - Jun., 1905), pp. 123-138.
This is the first part of Barry's Traditional Ballads in New England, all three parts were published in 1905 in three consecutive editions of the JOAFL. These early ballads are fully preserved because Barry recognized that including the tune whenever possible was as important as including lyrics.
See the reprint in Songs & Ballads Of The Maine Lumberjacks, 1924 -below. Reprinted in British Ballads from Maine where it is version A. We know from this edition that H.M.R. is Henry Milner Rideout and that Robert Gordon also collected a version from Rideout that was published in Adventure Magazine.
R. Matteson Jr. 2011, 2014]
[The Two Sisters] The Twa Sisters; Version B. Taken down by H. M. R. [Henry Milner Rideout] , in Calais, Maine
1. There was a man lived in the West,
Bow down, bow down,
There was a man lived in the West,
The bow is bent to me,
There was a man lived in the West,
He loved his youngest daughter best.
Prove true, prove true,
Oh, my love, prove true to me!
2 One day he gave her a beaver hat,
Her sister, she did not like that.
3 As they were walking on the green,
To see their father's ships come in.
4 As they were walking on the wharf,
Her sister, she did push her off.
5 "Oh, dear sister, give me your hand,
And you shall have my house and land!"
6. "No, I will not give you my hand,
But I will have your house and land."
7. Sometimes she sank, sometimes she swam,
Until she came to a miller's dam.
8. The miller, he put in his hook,
And fished her out by her petticoat.
9. He stripped her off from toe to chin,
And then he threw her in agin.
10. Sometimes she sunk, sometimes she swum,
Until she came to her long home.
11. Her sister was hanged for her sake,
And the miller he burned at the stake.
_______________________
Reprinted: Songs & Ballads Of The Maine Lumberjacks 1924
The Twa Sisters
Taken down by H. M. R., in Calais, Maine, and printed by Barry, with another version, with the music, in the Journal of American Folk-Lore, 1905, XVIII, 130-132. This ballad is incomplete; but corresponds in plot, except in minor details, to the first part of "The Twa Sisters," No. 10, in Child's collection of English and Scottish Popular Ballads. The complete ballad is probably not yet extinct as tradition in the British Isles. It has been found, Child affirms, in England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland, There are also Danish, Icelandic, Norwegian, Faroe, and Swedish versions. In all complete and uncorrupted forms of the ballad, according to Child, "either some part of the body of the drowned girl is taken to furnish a musical instrument, a harp or a viol, or the instrument is wholly made from the body." The frame of the harp, for instance, is made of the breast-bone and the pins of the finger joints. In the more felicitous version, the girl's lover takes three locks of her yellow hair with which to string his harp. Two variants and a fragment are printed by Belden, Journal of American Folk-Lore y tqo£, XIX, 233-235. For other American texts, see Campbell and Sharp, English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians, pp. 16-19; Sharp, Folk-Songs of English Origin, 2d Series, pp. 18—21; Cox, The School Journal and Educator (West Virginia), 1916, XLIV, 428, 441-442; Child, I, 137; Pound, American Ballads and Songs [1922], pp. 11-13.
I There was a man lived in the West,
Bow down, bow down.
There was a man lived in the West, —
The bow is bent to me, —
There was a man lived in the West,
He loved his youngest daughter best.
Prove true, prove true,
Oh, my love, prove true to me!
2 One day he gave her a beaver hat,
Her sister, she did not like that.
3 As they were walking on the green,
To see their father's ships come in.
4 As they were walking on the wharf,
Her sister, she did push her off.
5 "Oh, dear sister, give me your hand,
And you shall have my house and land!"
6 "No, I will not give you my hand,
But I will have your house and land."
7 Sometimes she sank, sometimes she swam,
Until she came to a miller's dam.
8 The miller he put in his hook,
And fished her out by her petticoat.
9 He stripped her off from toe to chin,
And then he threw her in agin.
10 Sometimes she sunk, sometimes she swum,
Until she came to her long home.
11 Her sister was hanged for her sake,
And the miller, he burned at the stake.
The following stanzas, which I quote in order to complete the story, are from B of "The Twa Sisters" in Child's collection.
19 The miller quickly drew the dam,
And there he found a drownd woman.
20 You coudna see her yallow hair
For gold and pearle that were so rare.
21 You coudna see her middle sma
For gouden girdle that was sae braw.
22 You coudna see her fingers white,
For gouden rings that was sae gryte.
23 An by there came a harper fine,
That harped to the king at dine.
24 When he did look that lady upon,
He sighd and made a heavy moan.
25 He's taen three locks 0 her yallow hair,
An wi them strung his harp sae fair.
26 The first tune he did play and sing,
Was, "Farewell to my father the king."
27 The nextin tune that he played syne,
Was, "Farewell to my mother the queen!'
28 The lasten tune that he playd then,
Was, "Wae to my sister, fair Ellen."